The NBA made official earlier today what most of the league and its millions of fans around the world have known for months: Portland Trailblazers guard Damian Lillard is the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2012-2013 season. The sixth overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, Lillard led all rookies in scoring (19 ppg) while playing in all 82 games this season.

Lillard has been a mainstay in Panini America’s NBA trading card sets all season long. In fact, the only place you can find his 12 officially licensed Rookie Cards from the 2012-13 season is inside Panini America products. While Lillard’s base RCs range in value from $6 to $50, his best insert cards from Panini America — including gems from Totally Certified, Prizm and Select, to name three — are valued at more than $300.

But the scarcest of Lillard’s best Panini America cards have routinely changed hands on the secondary market for more than $2,000. Like the man himself, Lillard’s officially licensed NBA trading cards from Panini America are quite the phenomenon — a phenomenon that will only intensify with the release of Lillard’s 2012-13 National Treasures Basketball RC later this year.

As our way of saying “Congratulations, Damian,” we present a must-see gallery of some of the coolest officially licensed NBA trading cards from his historic rookie season.